Baking With A Rockstar (A Brooksville Novel Book 1) Read online

  She squeezes my shoulders one more time before letting go. “Please, call me Rebecca. And you really are just as beautiful as my mom told me. You’re her favorite person to talk about at the moment, besides your little cutie pie, of course—who I still have to meet too.” She gives me another big smile, probably trying to lighten the mood, and I’m grateful for it.

  I feel my cheeks heat up, and if Hudson’s chuckle is anything to go by, my blush is pretty apparent. “You’re very kind, thank you.”

  “It’s just the truth, dear. I’m very happy you’re here. Also, thanks so much for making all the treats, and the cake. Everything looks perfect.”

  I shake my head, trying to deal with all the compliments this woman is throwing my way, and also remembering the reason for today’s party. “It’s nothing at all. And happy birthday.”

  “Thank you.”

  Hudson steps forward and winks at me. “Just wait until you try it, Mom. Once you’ve had it, you can’t ever get enough of it. You just want more and more and more. It’s an insatiable hunger she instills.” Even though he’s speaking to his mom, his gaze is locked with mine.

  Somehow, I can’t shake the feeling he’s not just talking about my baking skills here, and the thought alone makes me squirm.

  What has gotten into this guy all of a sudden?

  I feel like the rules have changed, but I didn’t get the memo.

  Before I can try to dissect his behavior, Hannah comes back in with Mirabelle. “Sorry to interrupt, guys, but I’m afraid they need you out there again, Rebecca. Hudson, you should probably go help too.”

  She sighs, promising we’ll talk more later before leaving with Hudson in tow—but not before gushing over Mira for a moment. When Hudson and Mira giggle over something, I’m almost certain I heard her sniffle a little. I’m glad she’s just as awesome as the rest of the family. Somehow, it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

  “Are you all done over here?” Hannah peeks over the kitchen bar after the other two finally leave, looking happy when she sees the cake, and all the platters filled with various treats. “You’ve done a great job. Everything looks fantastic, and I’m sure you’ll make a lot of future customers today.”

  “I hope everyone will like it.” I feel a little nervous about so many people judging what I made, but I better get used to it—fast.

  “They’ll love it. Let’s go outside, and you can meet the rest of the family—at least the ones that are already here.”

  Letting out a big breath, I rub my hands on my thighs. “All right. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be, so let’s do this.”

  When we stand right in front of the French doors, I catch my first glimpse of the backyard and gasp. I’ve never seen anything this beautiful before—it looks straight out of one of those garden magazines my grandma used to have.

  Big mature trees frame the huge, green lawn, and there are flowers surrounding it everywhere. The strong scent drifts into my nose immediately, making me sigh in a mixture of pure bliss and happiness. Tents are set up about halfway down the yard, but I’m sure whatever lies beyond is just as beautiful as the rest.

  “Grandma would’ve loved it here.” The words come out of my mouth without me thinking about it.

  Hannah nods in agreement beside me. “I agree. I always think of her when I’m out here. I wish she could’ve seen it.”

  “Me too...I miss her.”

  She squeezes my arm for a moment before setting her hand back on Mira, who is suddenly getting all squirmy. “I’m sure you do, honey. Just remember, they’re always in your heart. My favorite spot is all the way in the back, where the gazebo is. There’s a little pond, and it’s the most peaceful place. I like to sit there and think of your grandma and all the shenanigans we got into over the years. She truly was the best.”

  Nodding at her, I try to see where she’s pointing.

  “It’s hard to see from here with all the party tents in the way. I can show it to you, if you’d like.”

  “Show her what, Grandma?” Hudson is suddenly right in front of us, startling me yet again.

  I’m seriously starting to wonder if he’s had some sort of ninja training, with all the appearing out of thin air acts he keeps doing.

  Hannah shifts Mirabelle around in her arms. “I was just telling Charlie about the pond.”

  “Ah. Let’s go see it, shall we?” He looks from me to Mirabelle. “Wanna come with us and look at the fishies, Mira?”

  With little to no hesitation, she leaps into his outstretched arms, and I’m quietly wondering how I feel about that fact. They both beam at me, making me smile in return. Without a warning, Hudson takes my hand, pulling me after them. The skin contact has sparks shooting through my whole body.

  We walk down a little stone path on one side of the yard. It leads us past the party chaos—that we thankfully ignore—all the way down to the little pond. A few sea roses float on top while some fish swim around, poking out their little heads here and there. It’s beautiful, just like Hannah said.

  “Look, Mira, there are the fishies.” Hudson points toward the water, and we know the exact moment she sees them too. Her eyes go wide, and a huge grin spreads across her face. She starts babbling in excitement, and it’s the most adorable thing.

  A sense of overwhelming emotions for this little human overcomes me, and I softly brush my hand over her hair and cheek. “Gosh, you’re so cute.”

  “Truest thing I’ve heard all day.” The male voice comes from behind me. “Who’s this lovely young lady, Hudson?”

  Hudson looks over my shoulder and turns around to face whoever is approaching. “This is Mira.”

  The man has come up beside me, and I try to peek over as unsuspiciously as possible. Even though I can only stare for a moment, I notice right away his profile looks strangely familiar.

  “Hi, Mira, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He holds out his hand and after staring at it for a while, Mira puts her own little one in his, as if she knows exactly what she’s doing.

  Then his attention shifts to me. “And who do we have here?”

  He turns to face me, and my mouth drops open when I get a good look at him. I’m so shocked that I’m not even embarrassed about the gasp that comes out of my mouth.

  Hudson clears his throat, apparently realizing he has to do the introduction for me. “This is Charlie. Charlie, this is Gabe—”

  “Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.” I momentarily space out, not even feeling bad for interrupting him. My brain feels like total mush, and I don’t think I can control whatever is coming out of my mouth, even if I wanted to. I point a finger at the man standing in front of me, restraining myself from poking him in the chest. “You are Gabe Mitchell. You’re freaking Gabe Mitchell. I can’t believe it. You’re, like, my favorite author in the whole world. You have no idea how much your books have helped me get through this last year. Wow.”

  The man in front of me chuckles, and I’m immediately mesmerized by the sound of it. Reluctantly, I pull my gaze away to look at Hudson. “This is Gabe Mitchell. What the heck, Hudson? Why didn’t you tell me you know him?” Realization finally hits me, and I slap both of my hands over my mouth. “Wait a second. Oh, no freaking way, this is your brother?” I’m not sure what’s possessing me, but I punch Hudson lightly on the arm.

  In response, his eyebrows draw together tightly while his mouth sets in a grim, straight line. “Last time I checked, he was, but that might change soon. How in the world can you know who he is when you had no idea who I was?”

  Gabe holds up his hands in a time-out position. “Wait a second. Please tell me you aren’t kidding right now. She really didn’t know who you were when you met?” Gabe doesn’t need to wait for an answer from Hudson because the sour expression on his face says it all. Gabe throws his head back and laughs loudly. He claps his thighs a few times too, probably making a few heads in the backyard turn our way. “This is the absolute best thing ever. Was poor Hudson baby not recognized
?” Gabe uses a baby voice for the last part, making me and Mira giggle while Hudson frowns even harder.

  “What’s going on over here?”

  “We could hear you laughing all the way at the house.”

  I turn toward the female voices, stunned by the sight in front of me.

  Hudson grumbles behind me. “Great, just what I needed.”

  “You won’t believe what I just found out.” Gabe points toward me. “My lovely new best friend here recognized me right away but didn’t know who Hudson was when she first met him.”

  The two women burst into laughter, their high-pitched tones almost harmonizing. I take a closer look at them, blinking as I take them in.

  First of all, they are both quite tall—definitely taller than my five foot, seven inches, from the looks of it—and they must be twins. While one has blonde hair piled up high on top of her head, the other one has long dark brown hair with a rainbow assortment of colors mixed into it. Other than that, they both have the same beautiful face, their features identical mirror images of each other.

  “Charlie, these are my sisters, Dahlia and Rose.” Hudson is standing beside me now, groaning like it actually pains him to make this introduction.

  “This is Charlie?” Rose—the one with the colorful hair—shares a look with her sister, both of their eyes going wide.

  Not sure how to take their little exchange, I nod and shake hands with both of them. “It’s nice to meet you.” Since my hand is shaking, I put it behind my back the second I can. These Mitchell siblings all seem bigger than life, and I’m not sure how to deal with that at the moment.

  The twins grab each other’s arms before Rose turns back to me. “Oh no, trust me, the pleasure is all ours.” She leans over to her sister without taking her eyes off me. “Grandma is right, she really is perfect.”

  Well, if my nerves weren’t shot before, they definitely are now.

  If there’s one thing I’ve learned about this family, it’s that frankness is a Mitchell trait.

  Dahlia takes a step toward Hudson. “So, this must be little Mira then. Gosh, Rose, look at her. She’s absolutely beautiful.” Dahlia plays with Mira’s fingers while Mira soaks up the attention, and after looking at me for reassurance, she climbs into Dahlia’s arms.

  Apparently, I’m not the only one who’s enthralled by this family.

  I watch Gabe and the twins gush over Mirabelle while Hudson silently stares at me.

  When I finally acknowledge his burning gaze, I can see a whole lot of determination in his eyes—I’m just not sure for what. “Hudson, what—”

  Before I can say anything else, he grabs my hand. “Can we talk for a moment?”

  Chapter Eleven

  Hudson pulls me toward the little gazebo that’s only a few feet away. He walks so fast down the narrow path that I have a hard time staying on my two feet—cobblestones and heels definitely don’t mix well.

  “Slow down, Hudson. What’s gotten into you? You’re acting like someone’s after us.” After I say the words, I turn around quickly to make sure there actually isn’t anyone behind us.

  Not a good idea.

  I should’ve known better than to move that much when I already have such a hard time walking straight. That little movement starts a domino effect, and everything goes down the drain within a few seconds. Not only do I lose my balance—big-time—but I also fall sideways. Hudson, the helpful guy he is, tries to catch me before I go down. Sadly, even he can’t save me this time.

  Instead, I take him down with me.

  That would be embarrassing enough by itself, but of course, luck doesn’t seem to be on my side lately. Rather than landing on the hard ground, we fall into the pond with a big splash, a loud shriek coming from my lungs as I hit the water. Hudson follows close behind, landing halfway on top of me. Thankfully, he quickly rolls off before crushing me, and is now quietly sitting a few feet away in the shallow water.

  “Oh my gosh.” Crossing my arms over my chest, I try to rub away the goose bumps that have already formed everywhere. Despite the warm spring temperatures, the water is surprisingly cold. I shudder and close my eyes for a moment when I feel slimy algae all around me. Because that’s not enough, I also have hard, pointy rocks poking into my butt, and I’m pretty sure some fish just swam by my feet.

  No doubt, this is one of those moments where it would be incredibly helpful if the ground would open up and swallow me. I’d really appreciate that. So so very much.

  Hudson is still as a statue and just stares at me with wide eyes before he shakes his head and chuckles. “Things are definitely never boring when you’re around, Charlie.”

  Despite my cold body, my cheeks flush at his statement. I’m relieved when rushed footsteps come our way, but it all fades into the background when Hudson stands up to carefully walk over to me. Even though we’re both completely soaked, I have a feeling I look more like a wet dog whereas Hudson looks like he’s ready for a sexy wet T-shirt photo shoot.

  His white T-shirt clings to his upper body like a second skin, reminding me of his perfect body I’ve seen on an almost daily basis for the last few weeks. My cheeks heat up even more, but this time not from embarrassment.

  He sinks halfway back into the water, kneeling down in front of me. “Are you okay? You didn’t get hurt, did you? I should’ve checked first.”

  I shake my head and let out a big breath. “No, I’m good. I wouldn’t mind vanishing into thin air, though—just in case you know that trick. Being the big party laughingstock wasn’t on my list for today.”

  He pretends to think for a moment. “Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t have that one in my repertoire.”

  “Mmm, of course not. Figures.”

  His eyes move over my body, stopping at my arms crossed tightly over my chest. “You’re shivering. Let’s get you out of here and warmed up. I’ll run back to the house to get us some towels.”

  Gabe clears his throat, standing at the edge of the pond with a smirk on his face. “Rose already went to get some. She should be back any moment. You guys okay?”

  I sigh loudly. “Besides my pride, everything’s just peachy.”

  All three of us start to chuckle—being clumsy definitely does make for good entertainment sometimes. Dahlia joins the party, quietly laughing too while Mira is completely oblivious to the whole situation, happily occupied with the drawstrings of Dahlia’s top.

  “I’m back.” Rose comes running toward us, a big pile of towels in her arms. “I hope I didn’t miss anything funny.” She winks at me, trying to catch her breath.

  Hudson holds out his hands to me, standing up again to his full height. “Come on, let’s go inside and get cleaned up.” My hand is securely wrapped in his as he pulls me up and we trot over to the edge of the water. When we get there, he lets go and walks around to stand behind me. “I’ll lift you up, so you can get out first. Okay?”

  “Sure, thanks.”

  In my haste to get out of this wet situation before anyone else can see me, I don’t think twice about how exactly Hudson’s planning on helping me. Before I know it, his hands grip my waist tightly, the contact sending my whole body into shock. I don’t have the chance to react though when Gabe grabs my wrists and starts pulling me up. I’m halfway in the air when I slip through his hands, immediately afraid to either land in the cold water again or on Hudson’s face—not sure which one would be worse.

  Without warning, Hudson’s hands are on my butt, pushing me up enough for Gabe to pull me all the way out. I thank Gabe and spin around to gasp at Hudson, who, of course, has the nerves to shrug and laugh. In one swift move, he hoists himself up on one of the surrounding rocks and stands behind me two seconds later.

  Show-off.

  He leans closer, putting his mouth right next to my ear. His hot breath is fanning my neck, and this time, I shudder for a completely different reason. “At least now I can say I got you all wet.”

  I snort and shake my head before I look at him over my shou
lder. “Probably more so the other way around.”

  “Well, you won’t hear me complain about that—either way works for me.” His dimples are on full display, turning this into a completely unfair playing field.

  I turn around and slap his bicep lightly, the muscle immediately responding and flexing under my touch. Reluctantly, I take my fingers off him after a few seconds. “Goodness, stop it.”

  Someone coughs behind us, and I’m reminded of where we are. I step away from Hudson. I clearly can’t think straight when he’s around.

  Rose hands me a towel, and after thanking her, I cling to it like it’s a security blanket. She smirks at me, but thankfully stays quiet. I’m not sure how many more comments I can take from this family right now before my head explodes from total embarrassment.

  She throws the other towel in Hudson’s direction and gives my shoulder a squeeze. “Come on, I’ll show you around inside. I’m sure we can find something dry for you to wear somewhere.”

  “Thanks, Rose. I really appreciate it.”

  “No problem at all. It’s the least I can do, he’s my idiot brother, after all.” We both snicker at that comment.

  She starts walking, but I look around for Mira first.

  “Go ahead, Charlie. I’ve got her.” Hannah must have joined our little impromptu party without me noticing, but I’m beyond grateful she did. “She’s chewing on her hand. Is it time for her to eat?”

  I pull the towel closer around me, trying to shield myself as much as possible from the wind. “She wasn’t very hungry when we left, so probably. Would you mind feeding her? The diaper bag is in the kitchen.”

  Hannah nods and waves me off. “Of course, don’t worry. You take care of yourself, the munchkin and I are gonna have a great time, as always.” She takes Mirabelle from Dahlia, snuggling her tightly.

  Somehow, I have a feeling she’s going to be the most spoiled baby—at least when it comes to the Mitchell family.

  “Thank you.” I share a look with her and smile.